Introducing the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 - Dual GK104 GPUs on One PCB

The wait is officially over. After rampant speculation and some teasing by NVIDIA, we finally know what the Green Team have in store. Today at the GeForce LAN, NVIDIA introduced the world to the GeForce GTX 690. This is NVIDIA's new dual-GPU flagship card and it packs two GK104 graphics processors. Yes, you read that right. The GTX 690 has two GK104 GPUs running the show, which NVIDIA says is double the performance of a single GTX 680. NVIDIA has the two GK104s on a 10 layer, 2oz PCB with an aluminum and magnesium cooler featuring polycarbonate windows and dual vapor chamber coolers. This alone makes the GTX 690 the most solidly constructed video card around, and should help keep thermal performance within respectable figures.

The base clock of the GK104 GPUs comes in at 915MHz, with a boost clock of 1015MHz, but that boosted number can vary while gaming. As for the numbers on the GPUs, you can expect 3072 CUDA cores, 64 ROPs, 128 Texture units, and 4GB of GDDR5 on a 512-bit interface. The 690 requires two eight pin PCIe power connectors, so you should take that into account when purchasing a power supply. There are three DVI connectors and one mini DisplayPort to let you run NVIDIA Surround without issue. Nothing has been skimped out here compared to the GTX 680, which means the 690 is essentially two 680s on one PCB. Impressed? You should be.

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 will cost $999 at launch. It will have a limited launch on Thursday, May 3rd, with more availability on May 7th. The price may scare away some people, but when you look at the performance and reduced noise, you should have an easier time stomaching it.